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About NRCS National Plant Data Center
(NPDC)
The NPDC was established to provide
vascular and nonvascular plant information to the Natural Resources Conservation
Service (NRCS), its clients and cooperating agencies. It is affiliated
with the Deputy Chief of Science and Technology and the
Ecological
Sciences Division in Washington, D.C. The NPDC is
located on the campus of Southern University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Our role in plant data development is critical to the mission of the NRCS.
This is because of the Agency’s emphasis on ecosystem-based management and the
development of automated conservation tools, such as the Customer Tool Kit,
Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) database, and
VegSpec. Most of the data are
maintained in the PLANTS Database and are
developed by
cooperating scientists located at universities across the U.S. Cooperative
agreements continue to be established with universities, plant science
specialists, and organizations to assist our data gathering efforts.
NRCS provides national and international leadership on plant information for
the United States and its territories. The PLANTS Database provides foundation
data for other agencies such as the ARS, APHIS,
Army, BLM, FSA, Rural Development,
EPA, Extension Service, FHA, FWS,
FS, NBS, NOAA, NPS,
and USGS. The NPDC works proactively with other agencies,
particularly through the Integrated
Taxonomic Information System, to ensure efficient development of plant data
without overlapping effort. This approach reduces costs and enables information
exchange between agencies and disciplines.
The PLANTS Database supports conservation activities such as: conservation
planning, agronomy, soils, water quality, forestry, wetland restoration, range
management, biology, bioengineering, plant materials, national resource
inventory, and Farm Bill programs.
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